View full sizeNicole Dungca/The OregonianCommunity members listened to North Clackamas School District administrators as they announced the district could close Campbell Elementary School next year. The district plans on recommending the closure of two elementary schools, and consolidating Sojourner Elementary with Concord Elementary.

District administrators announced the news to staff today at the school, just hours before Assistant Superintendent Aeylin Summers addressed about 95 community members in the school's lunch room. The district plans to recommend the closure to the school board tomorrow night, and members will vote on the plan in March.

Summers said several factors contributed to Campbell as a choice, including enrollment facilities, classroom space, the effect on feeder schools, and busing costs. The school, which has been repeatedly rated Outstanding on Oregon's state report cards, currently educates about 290 students.

Few words of support came from the audience, while many parents lambasted the proposal. Parent Nadja Jones noted that students from Wichita Elementary School had already been transferred after that elementary school was closed because of the district's 2006 bond.

Parents had been told that “this is not going to happen again,” Jones said, and she wanted to know if keeping that promise had been considered by the district.

“I’m directly asking you,” Jones said. “Was integrity measured here?”

“Yes,” Summers replied, before noting that 40 students from Wichita had transferred to Campbell when Wichita closed in the past.

Summers also said Jones had been right about her concerns. The district planned to look into grouping together some of Wichita students who had been transferred.

Some also expressed concern over employee salaries, with one woman saying the district only cared about “teachers, their salaries, and their retirement plans.”

The comment set off a bit of a debate in the audience. Another community member defended teachers, saying they were the ones who care for our children.

“You guys want to cut their salaries,” she said, addressing the audience. “I understand that is an issue, but I don’t want a teacher that’s making twelve bucks an hour.”

When a parent asked whether a back-up plan existed if the board decides to reject the plan, Summers said the district would not look at the closures if it were not a necessity.

“If the board decides we’re not going to do this,” she said. “The two most immediate options to realize that savings are not palatable.

Summers said the school would have to cut approximately 24 more teaching positions, or cut four to five school days to make up for the money. As it stands, she said, the district only meets minimum standards for minutes in school.